Impressions on Life's Experiences by Sandra Lee Hagan

I Wish You Enough

This morning I was sitting at the lab waiting my turn to have a needle shoved in my arm to drain out the precious fluid that controls life. For those of you who know my fears…getting blood drawn is one major fear. I looked around at the faces in the waiting room, hoping to just connect gazes with someone, anyone, to proclaim my fear. Nada, zip, zilch. I thought about who I would want by my side during this time of anxiety and thought about those who could ease my fears out of friendship and love. I imagined them right there beside me, joking, easing my tension from Milford, CT; from Dudley, MA; from Lyman ME; from Wethersfield, North Haven, East Haven, Hebron, Southington, Bridgeport, Branford and Hamden, CT and to tell ya the truth, I felt their love … well that… and I think the deep breathing and the positive mental messages (I think I can, I think I can) helped in a sense.

My thoughts were interrupted when there was this woman leaving and the attendant said to her “Have a Blessed Day and see you next week,” to which the woman replied something I could not really hear (I actually was not paying attention at that point) but the last thing she did say was, “Sometimes love isn’t enough.” Although usually I do not get hung up on conversations I have nothing to do with, it caught my attention. You see, this was the fourth time in a matter of about two weeks I have heard that expression… “some times love isn’t enough.”

Hang on a minute…I thought “Love makes the world go round,” “Love conquers All,” “All you need is Love,” but today, after hearing this statement for the fourth time in recent weeks, I felt like something was amiss. Then I started to think, really think of the statement “Sometimes love isn’t enough.”

First I started to think of the circumstances where I first heard this statement over the past two weeks. I am going to summarize them here as I am going back over a two week span of time and recently, I cannot even remember what I had for lunch!

At the vet’s office, it was a woman who muttered the statement while she was discussing the next step for an ailing pet. We love him so much, but “sometimes love just isn’t enough.”

It was watching Dr. Phil and he had parents on who were dealing with their daughter’s anorexia. The parents expressed how they would do anything in the world to help her get better and heal but they admitted that as much as they loved their daughter dearly, they eluded to “sometimes love isn’t enough.”

It was speaking with a client and them discussing being in the hospital and sitting bedside to an ailing loved one, telling them how much they loved them, and needed them, but “G*d” had other plans and “sometimes love isn’t enough.”

And lastly, it was at the lab this morning.

Now that I am home from work, I have been picking apart this statement, thinking of this statement, examining this statement not only in all these situations but in my life. I am asking myself “can or will love ever be enough?” and I have come to several conclusions based on the past few weeks and my life. The first one being NO, sometimes “Love isn’t enough.” Love can’t unfortunately conquer all.

Love can’t make a loved one not be called to the pearly gates – we have all loved someone in our lives (parents, husbands, wives, siblings, children, extended family, friends, etc.) and regardless of our genuine love for them, our love wasn’t enough. Think of 911, tragic accidents, unforeseen incidents.

Love cannot make a beloved person or pet conquer an illness. The healing power of love has been documented yet, again, “sometimes love isn’t enough.”

Love cannot heal a wounded soul that feels they are better off ending their life. At that moment in time, that person is not feeling, recognizing or even acknowledging how much they are truly loved.

Love cannot erase the bruises and scars or words from an emotionally and physically abusive spouse or significant other.

Love cannot make someone put down that needle, bottle, or next fix. This person’s love of their addiction is stronger than any love from others.

A person’s love cannot make someone else love them the same, feel the same, experience the same as what they feel when they look in your eyes or connect with your soul.

But Love is not all negative my friends. As in the same token …

Enough love or the actions of loving someone can help mend a broken heart.

The words “I love you” or enough love can bring a smile to one’s face.

Since the beginning of time, the actions of love has produced many children as most of us are products of actual love.

Simple, little gestures of love, can make a world of difference in a person’s day, week, month or year. A phone call, flowers, a note, an email, a text, or a surprise visit.

Since so many marriages end in divorce these days, enough love can make us part of the minority and PROUD OF IT! This is apparent as many of you reading this blog have been happily married for years, decades or a lifetime.

So I guess what I am getting at today and everyday in the future is that, sometimes … “LOVE IS ENOUGH.”